Monday, March 11, 2013

India and Pakistan...a tale of two siblings

Tension or violence at line of control (LOC) between India and Pakistan is not something unusual, people from both the countries are used to read news about firings or killings at LOC and this is going on since these two countries became independent. Political leaderships from both countries failed to find some mutually agreeable solution for problems which exist between two nations, even after so many attempts, so many meetings still all problems remain as they were.

The major issue between these two countries can not be looked only as a border dispute, there is lot of emotional, political and international angle to it. Issue of Kashmir is very sensitive for people from both the countries, biggest sufferers in this problem are Kashmiri people who are deprived of any stability in their state, this instability has affected everything in Kashmir, day to day life, economic development, tourism, education. Thousands of Kashmiri Pandits are displaced from their native land and are living like refugees in their own country, sadly this problem very rarely gets reported whenever problem of Kashmir is discussed at any level. Both countries have invested so much on Kashmir issue that it's almost impossible for both of them to back off from their stand, this standoff will continue indefinitely unless both of them acknowledge that there is a problem and they need to take serious efforts to solve it, right now both of them claim Kashmir as their own territory and blame each other for creating this issue, this is going on for decades and I think will continue in future also because many political parties survive because of this issue in both countries. Both these countries refuse to accept that it's their fault that this problem still exists, they just blame each other and do nothing substantial to resolve the issue. This issue is also one of the major reason for arm race between these two countries (which involves interest of many other countries which sell arms).

The hatred between people of these two countries is also something which keeps these issues hot and politically relevant. One very good example of this is India Pakistan cricket match, for many people it's not just a cricket match, but it's a war on cricket field...a chance to show that we are superior than you, we can beat you, and these matches are full of tension and there is always very high expectations from fans of both the teams, the unwritten rule is 'loose against anyone but not against Pakistan/India'. For me it took quite sometime to get over these feelings and realize that loss against Pakistan is not that such a big deal, now I look at it as just a another cricket match but this was not the case during my childhood days, I still remember that anxiety, agony and anger, now I laugh at it but that time it was really serious and I used to consider all Pakistanis as our enemies.

In spite of these differences and such a bitter rivalry there is so much similarity in these two countries, people from both countries enjoy similar movies and music, they share many cultural and social customs, there are more Muslims living in India than Pakistan. Many Pakistani artist work on Indian television and also in Hindi movie industry but unfortunately reverse doesn't happen, I think Indian artists are not allowed to work or perform in Pakistan that's why I am not in favor of this unilateral cultural exchange. This cultural exchange and bilateral sports tournaments are not proving any useful, the tension prevails, soldiers are dying and still terrorists have safe heaven in many places of Pakistan. Sometimes these cultural and sports exchanges are successful in creating some friendly atmosphere but then something very ugly happens at LOC and things are back to normal. Political instability in Pakistan and very dominant military complicates the issues more, now they are facing fear of terrorism themselves and many tragic incidents are happening regularly there, hopefully at least not Pakistani government will take some serious steps to curb act of terrorism at least to protect their own citizens. I hope that now both countries realize that they have a common enemy and come together to fight against it, but I wonder whether this long history of conflicts will make things any easier or difficult.

If both these countries settle their issues and try to bring peace it will be like blessing for people for both these countries it will be like dream coming true, but there are many people who don't want this to happen because then their political career will vanish, many countries who sell arms to both these countries will also suffer huge loss and I am sure all these forces will try their best to prevent anything like this happening in near future. This is very sad but it's a bitter truth. People from both countries also have very wrong image of each other, I met some Pakistanis here in USA and they all are not very different than us, I enjoyed talking with them and I am sure many Indians had similar experience and feel same way. I want my fellow Indians to realize that our neighboring country is not full of only Islamic extremists or India haters, it's a very wrong image formed by some of actions by military and some politicians of Pakistan, we need to clear this misconception. One thing is clear that these two countries can not avoid each other they are destined to be neighbors as long as both of them exist, then why not to live peacefully and stop the blame game which is going on for last six decades or so, I think time has come to stop this hate game, take a pause and think rationally not emotionally and then take one step at a time, firmly, boldly but in make sure that we are going in right direction, this is the only way we can resolve issues between these two nations and bring some peace, I think people from both countries need it more than anything else.